Founded in 2005, Flock has been gradually making inroads as “the social networking browser” long before RockMelt crashed onto the scene this month, thanks to its tight integration with the likes of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace (remember them?).

The current Flock version 2.6.1 is powered by Mozilla, the same engine behind Firefox, which means that the browser looks and feels a lot like Firefox and can take advantage of all of that browser’s add-ons. Flock goes further by offering native sharing of text, links, photos and videos as well as a unique “Media Bar” which shows previews of online videos and photos. An RSS feed reader and blog editor & reader is also built into the mix.

Flock isn’t as widely used among Mac users, despite receiving a Best Mac Software of 2007 award from CNET for its debut version. Despite this, the company announced in 2008 that 70 percent of their users had made Flock their default browser, so it clearly has a dedicated army of fans.

While Flock is a quite capable browser, its multi-panel approach might be considered too cluttered for the average user, particularly with a gaggle of buttons taking up so much screen real estate just above the Sidebar, which itself can be easily collapsed when you want more space. Otherwise, it’s certainly just as capable as Firefox itself.

The Flock browser is currently in transition -- the Windows version has already been reworked to use the open-source Chromium (the foundation of Google’s own Chrome browser), and a “streamlined, super-fast new Flock” is coming to the Mac as well on December 1, leaving its Mozilla roots behind. Whether their loyal users will come along for the ride remains to be seen.

OperaWho Makes It: Opera SoftwareBased Upon: OperaWho’s It For: Casual web browsers who want to keep it simpleWhere Do I Get It: www.opera.com/browser

Opera is an odd man out in this batch of web browsers, carrying a mere 3.48 percent of the current market based on recent Wikimedia data from October, 2010. First released publicly in 2006, the Opera browser sadly has less market share than even relative newcomer Google’s Chrome (currently at 9.71 percent) or even Apple’s Safari (with 5.57 percent, despite being on both the Mac and Windows platform).

Perhaps Opera’s legacy is that it has introduced a raft of features that later became standards on other browsers, but don’t cry for the company’s founders -- the Opera browser is currently embedded in game platforms like Nintendo’s Wii and portable DS as well as Adobe’s Creative Suite, not to mention a host of mobile platforms including Blackberry, Symbian, Android and yes, even the iPhone.

Opera isn’t as easily extendable as the other browsers in terms of widgets (their name for extensions) -- for instance, popular browser utilities such as 1Password and Xmarks are completely MIA from the platform, so if you rely on such functionality to enhance your browsing experience, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.

Still, Opera does offer a faster web browsing experience than many other browsers, largely thanks to a lightning-fast JavaScript engine and a much smaller, more efficient code base than the competition. Opera also comes ready to be customized with a different look and feel and if you’re already using a mobile version, you can use the free Opera Link to enable data sharing between all of your computers and devices -- including bookmarks, Speed Dial, notes and other information.

Last but not least we come to the new kid in town: RockMelt is being billed as a “browser for the Facebook era” thanks to its intimate ties with the social network. For some, that might be considered “unhealthy” ties, since a Facebook account is required to use RockMelt (as well as to obtain an invite, which is currently the only way to get it). However, if you like the idea of having your Facebook friends handy regardless of which site you’re currently on, then RockMelt is likely the browser for you.

Thanks to the unobtrusive “Friend Edge” strip at the left side of the browser, a chat with your fellow online ‘Bookers is always just a click away. Likewise, on the right side you’ll find the App Edge, which is home to additional Facebook fun such as your News Feed and Notifications, but you can also add Twitter and RSS feeds into the mix as well. This is essentially the same type of social integration that Flock first made popular, but RockMelt does it one better by keeping things compact and offering buttons that pop out when clicked.

RockMelt is based on Google’s Chromium (itself based on WebKit), and as such its abilities can be expanded thanks to extensions. The good news is, most of the available extensions work just fine with RockMelt, including AdBlock, Clip to Evernote, Instapaper and yes, Xmarks, the popular bookmark sync tool that has recently been taken off life support. (1Password is a notable exception that will require an update to resolve, but they’re already hard at work on it.)

Sharing is also a big part of RockMelt -- so much so that a big “Share” button resides permanently between your URL and search fields. Click on that button and you can easily post a link to the current page on either Facebook or Twitter, complete with an image from the former and location data from the latter. You’ll also have the opportunity to send your link as a Facebook message as well.

Even if you’re not so into the social network scene, RockMelt is a capable browser with some nice touches of its own. Unlike Chrome’s unified URL and search field, RockMelt keeps them separated, dropping down search results in their own window as needed while allowing your existing webpage to remain open. RockMelt also borrows heavily from Chrome itself, featuring the same “tabs on top” interface with a disappearing status bar. If you are already using Google’s Chrome, RockMelt is a win-win situation since it builds upon an already slick framework.

The bad news is that RockMelt is currently available by invitation only, which requires Facebook Connect to receive. Once you receive your e-mail invite, you’ll also be given three additional invites which you can share with friends -- an icon in the upper right corner of the browser will let you see which of your other Facebook friends have requested an invite so you can help them cut into line ahead of others, or you can offer the invites to anyone on your friends list.

*****

While we here at MacLife.com have a special place in our hearts for Safari and Firefox, we encourage you to give download all of these browsers (they’re free, after all!) and put them through their paces. Chances are, you may just find a new browsing experience that you never knew was possible. Sound off in the comments with your own favorites, even if they weren’t included in the above list!

Comments

I have tried, Safari, Chrome and FF. I do like Chrome, its fast, but I prefer Safari most of the time.

I appreciate the article, but, I want to know how these browsers rank for security.
Each have had their "day in the news" with some security flaw.

Chrome, being google, spies on everything you do...(and sends that info to whoever they want)
Safari, auto complete security flaw ( I'm sure was fixed at some point)
FF, can't remember what it was, but it had a security hole somewhere...

Each browser boasts it strong suites, but Safari does it all and has a few tricks up its sleeve. I use firefox for the extensions, and Chrome for the ability to implement private browsing from the keyboard, but I use Safari the most.

If you have multiple macs, an iPad, an iPhone, or combination of the aforementioned, along with a mobile me account you can sync your bookmarks across all of these devices seamlessly, it just works. So i keep all my commonly used site (mostly online apps) in the bookmarks bar and they are in the same place, in the same order, on every device.

I recently purchased a macbook air, set it to sync with mobile me, opened safari (which takes just under two seconds on the air) and it looks and acts the same as all the instances running on my other devices. my only quarrel is you have to use the mouse and a series of clicks to implement private browsing.

I also must admit the integrated search and address bar implementation in chrome is pure genius.

I have used four Mac browsers heavily. It's been Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and iCab Trial Version.

As I'm home schooled, my obsolete schooling platform requires Firefox to interact with most of the material. They specify Firefox, but why they can't use other browsers is beyond me.

iCab Trial Version: ... Just don't even try it. Obsolete. I've erased it from my computer. If I mention one browser has the worst flaw, it's actually iCab. I just don't feel like typing that every time I reference a flaw.

Firefox: My least favorite. Slowest of all my browsers. Application opening time is 60% slower than Safari. It personally just seems like a "heavy" application. 55.7 MB is the size compared to Safari's 57 MB size. Not much of a difference, but Safari is just FASTER.

Google Chrome: Comparable with Firefox. Slow, clunky, "heavy"... it just has more integration with Google features and is slightly faster than Firefox. I use a Google stuff a lot, so Chrome was good with that. I have no size as I erased it off my drive because I have no need for it.

Safari: My all-time favorite. Fast, quick, loads pages WITH Flash content perfectly. I've never experienced any difficulties as listed above. I use the browser whenever I'm not schooling. Plus, I love the OS integration, which helps with quick tasks that need Address Book or the like.

FINAL RATINGS:

iCab Trial Version: 1/10 (I've never tried the paid version, but seeing how the trial version operates... buy at your own risk.

Safari - fast, reliable, well integrated with all Snow Leopard applications.
Every once in a while - I'll use Chrome for a day. It works well also but does not provide the ease of interacting well with other OS applications!!
It's a no-brainer. Safari for 99.9% of the time. It also can handle downloads from all other sources.
Firefox is not consistently stable.

Chrome does not work for gaming it freezes and when you go to pogo the java script comes up like in firefox it says you don't have enough java. So I am sticking with Safari. Besides, Safari you can change the browser to different browsers for different games in pogo. I learned that trick from you.

I've been going back and forth between Safari and Chrome. I love Chrome's simple layout and how much actual screen real estate I get out of it compared to Safari, but I like how Safari syncs all my bookmarks with my iPhone. I wish Safari better security features, such as warning me of potential threats like Chrome does.

I agree with those above - Chrome responds significantly faster to flash applications/movies/etc. than Safari. I also like the cleaner look and feel of Chrome. I use both, but prefer Chrome for casual browsing.

God I love firefox's features to death. they make my life so much easier. And it does my heart good to know I am supporting open source guys at mozilla. They do the best job at add ons, and it makes my life simpler.

Unfortunently, I have abandoned firefox many times in favor of Safari 5. the only reason I do this (and it kills me but i must as i am a power user that needs speed) is because Safari rarely ever crashes, and loads webpages faster. I think im my life of using safari 5, it has only crashed once (with 12 tabs open, downloading Boxee, and with a good 15 extenstions in use while watching Hulu). Firefox crashes on me atleast once a day, and it breaks my heart. I really really want to love firefox more, and adopt it as my browser for life, but its occasional sluggy performance and daily crashes prevent me from sticking with it. I hope firefox 4 is a BIG improvement in speed and stability (hopefully topping speeds of safari and Chrome.)

I've been a big Safari fan, but there have been some weird problems lately as you'll see in the Apple Discussions forum. Lot's of us can't even log in to Apple Discussions from Safari. We have to use another browser (I use Chrome).

Another one is that Adobe's Flash 10 seems to have almost totally crippled Safari. Any page that has video brings Safari into practically a locked up state. I have to do a force quit on Safari at least a dozen times a day whenever there's Flash video on a page. Again, check Apple Discussions... I'm not the only one.

The conspiracy theory says that since Steve Jobs won't endorse Flash for iPhone (and has called it an obsolete technology), Adobe is teaching Apple a lesson. Or is it? Doesn't that make Flash look even worse?

There are other times when Safari is limited for me... Wordpress (edit controls don't show up) and a more niche browser-based app... Mapbuilder.net. Again.. certain editing controls don't work. I use Firefox to work around those problems.

I guess the bottom line is that you can't confidently use just one browser at all. That makes comparing them to see which is best is kind of a worthless exercise.

I too find it difficult to choose between Chrome and Safari, but lately, I've stopped using Chrome and started using Safari, mainly because Chrome started to slow down. Furthermore, Chrome does not integrate itself with other Mac applications (e.g. Preview), while Safari does.